Information Systems for the Fashion and Apparel Industry

Tsan-Ming Jason Choi, Tsan-Ming Jason Choi

• Verlag: Woodhead Publishing
• Jahr: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780081005804
• Thema: Computer Science
• Thema: CAD-CAM

Information Systems for the Fashion and Apparel Industry brings together trends and developments in fashion information systems, industrial case-studies, and insights from an international team of authors. The fashion and apparel industry is fast-growing and highly influential. Computerized information systems are essential to support fashion business operations and recent developments in social media, mobile commerce models, radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, and ERP systems are all driving innovative business measures in the industry.

After an introductory chapter outlining key decision points and information requirements in fast fashion supply chains, Part One focuses on the principles of fashion information systems, with chapters covering how decision making in the apparel supply chains can be improved through the use of fuzzy logic, RFID technologies, evolutionary optimization techniques, and artificial neural networks. Part Two then reviews the range of applications for information systems in the fashion and apparel industry to improve customer choice, aid design, implement intelligent forecasting and procurement systems, and manage inventory and returns.

• Provides systematic and comprehensive coverage of information systems for the fashion and apparel industry
• Combines recent developments and industrial best-practices in apparel supply chain management in order to meet the needs of the fashion and apparel industry professionals and academics
• Features input from a team of highly knowledgeable authors with a range of professional and academic experience, overseen by an editor who is a leading expert in the field
• Reviews the range of applications for information systems in the fashion and apparel industry to improve customer choice, aid design, implement intelligent forecasting and procurement systems, and manage inventory and returns

1

Introduction

Key decision points and information requirements in fast fashion supply chains

T.-M. Choi The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract

Fast fashion is a critical industrial trend which affects the fashion and textiles industry, and the respective supply chains. Undoubtedly, information systems are critically important in fast fashion supply chains as they are essential for many crucial business operations. In this introductory chapter, we first discuss some key decision points in fast fashion supply chains. Then, we examine the information requirements with the goal of achieving an efficient fast fashion supply chain system. Finally, we conclude this chapter by presenting how the articles featured in this handbook are related to enhancing decision making in fast fashion supply chains.

Keywords

Fast fashion; Information requirements; Information systems; Information systems management; Information technology; Key decision points; Supply chain management

1.1. Introduction

The apparel industry is a very important industry. It is reported that the global market size of the apparel industry reached 1.7 trillion US dollars in 2012 (Caro and Martinez-de-Albeniz, 2015). Among all the apparel brands, the fast fashion brands have emerged as the major players in the top league. In fact, as reported by Interbrand.com, among the top 100 brands across all industries in the world in 2015, 11 of them are fashion apparel brands (see Table 1.1) and the fast fashion brands H&M and Zara are ranked top, just behind the sportswear giant Nike and the luxury brand leader Louis Vuitton.

In fact, in Table 1.1, the other top brands are all noble brands which are either the well-established giants in the sportswear market or the luxury brands which are known to be high-spenders in branding. Euromonitor (2015) comments that the fast fashion brands are ambitious and expanding. They aim to have a prominent presence in the US mega stores and the emerging markets. Undoubtedly, the whole apparel industry is now driven by the fast fashion trend.

Table 1.1

Top apparel brands

Brand	Category	Ranking (among top 100)
Nike	Sportswear	17
Louis Vuitton	Luxury	20
H&M	Fast fashion	21
Zara	Fast fashion	30
Hermes	Luxury	41
Gucci	Luxury	50
Adidas	Sportswear	62
Prada	Luxury	69
Burberry	Luxury	73
Ralph Lauren	Luxury	91
Hugo Boss	Luxury	96

To a certain extent, the fast fashion business model was created because consumers demand newer and more trendy apparel products (Cachon and Swinney, 2011; Choi, 2014). By adopting fast fashion, the retailer can better deal with the strategic consumer behaviors (Cachon and Swinney, 2011; Lee et al., 2015). From the seller side (ie, the fashion supply chain), it is difficult to satisfy the market in a cost-effective manner if the lead time is long. Thus, driven by concepts such as quick response (Chow et al., 2012), fast delivery, and nearby sourcing strategies, Zara pioneered the magic model of requiring only two weeks to offer ready-to-sell merchandise to the market (from conceptual design). The other fashion retailers, especially those in the mass markets, are hence pressurized and have to react. Thus, there is an industrial trend of having shortened lead time in fashion apparel for the mass market brands over past decades. In the following, we will discuss some key decision points in fast fashion supply chains. We will then explore how information systems may help to enhance the decision quality.

1.2. Key decision points

It is well known that fashion design provides the soul to apparel products. It is probably the most fundamental yet critical process in the fashion supply chain. In the fast fashion era, fashion brands have to come up with the fashion design in the most time-efficient manner. Usually, the fashion brands either have their own in-house design teams (including chief fashion designers, middle-level fashion designers to junior fashion designers) or they outsource designs from other designer houses. However, in order to shorten lead time, technologies play a crucial role. In particular, it is known that it takes a long time for fashion designers (of different levels) to discuss and come up with a satisfactory final design because there is always a need to revise and improve the design so that it becomes as perfect as possible. Motivated by this, Yu et al. (2011) propose a novel method so that the collaborative fashion designs among design team members can be completed as soon as possible. The information technologies involved include fuzzy logic and artificial neural network (ANN) models.

After the designs have been created, important decisions have to be made on demand forecasting, sourcing and production, inventory and distribution management, and retailing. For demand forecasting, the supply chain agents (including fashion retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers) are all concerned as it will affect all of them. As a matter of fact, if the members are willing to contribute and share their vital data, the performance of the supply chain will be improved. One typical example is the sharing of market demand data (eg, the retailers' point-of-sales data). It is well known that such kind of information sharing and communication can significantly dampen the notorious bullwhip effect (Lee et al., 1997) and hence reduce the harms brought about by information distortion, which would naturally appear in the fashion supply chain system. On the other hand, it is also helpful if information regarding supply situations is known to the downstream members. For example, if a national distributor of an apparel brand knows that its products are in short su...